Friday, July 30, 2010

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

My neighbor across the street is having major remodeling done on her house including new windows and siding. The workmen were applying metal flashing and I asked them to save me the scraps. What you see on this card is standard metal flashing cut with Nestabilites 10 and then inked with TH Brushed Corduroy and Stazon Timber Brown. You let it dry and then just wipe it down with a baby wipe. It adds nice texture and sparkle don't you think?

My sweet friend Diane in Pennsylvania and her daughter have opened an Etsy shop. They make such lovely and charming things, even patterns for some of them too! Please be sure to click on the link and check out what they have to offer!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Using the new Cricut October 31 cartridge, I made this A10 card (don't often make that size). The window, jacko, and lantern are from the cartridge and the sentiment is an old MS stamp on which I used Heat and Stick powder and MS glitter. I distressed the window and shutters with a little white and the jacko with some distress inks.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Just wanted to show you a few of the images on the new Cricut October 31 cartridge. These were all cut at 3". Since they had such long skinny pieces and tendrils I put them through the Xyron to adhere them to the background sheet otherwise you would see a shadow under them. The shiny areas you see are xyron adhesive showing. So this would not be a good idea for a card or scrapbook page but since I am just fooling around.......And the last picture shows three of the rolling roses that are showing up everywhere. If you want to know how to make these, I advise you Google "rolling rose" and lots of sites should come up. If you have trouble let me know. I cut the pieces for mine on the Cricut from a file I found on the internet but Sizzix has a die for them as well. They take literally a minute or two to make. They are VERY dimensional so they would be best used on a gift box, barrette clip, or other item not inserted in an envelope. But they are cute and addicting. Have a great weekend and stay cool!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

When I received my replacement Cricut they sent along two new cartridges with it, two that I already had from the first machine purchase. So I have an extra Plaintin Schoolbook and Accent Essentials if anyone is interested for $15 each plus shipping.

Finally got my new Cricut replacement machine back two days ago in the middle of a major redo of my sewing and craft room! It's soooooo hot here you can't imagine. You cannot stand being outside unless it's early morning or evening after the sun goes down. I thought I'd share some garden pictures with you because I didn't get to anything creative yet, although the garden is my creation too! Enjoy!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

For those of you considering purchase the MS Scoreboard or who have already done so, I found some measurements for sizes of envelopes not included on the envelope template. I printed this info on a small piece of paper, used my Xyron and adhered it to the back of the envelope template. No matter how I tried to type this, I couldn't get it to come out in a sort of chart format so I'll just give it to you the best I can.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

I thought maybe a fall card would make us all forget the scorching heat and humidity here in the mid atlantic states and elsewhere. I'm going to talk about the new gadget first. This card is a 6 x 6" card with lots of dimension. The tool I used to make the envelope is the Martha Stewart Scoring Tool. Now I've had a Score Pal for years and love it and will always use it. But I read several reviews on the MS and had a 50% coupon which made it only $10 so I took a chance. I'm here to tell you it is WONDERFUL! It has scores at 1/8" all the way across, comes with a scoring tool and the envelope tool both of which store right on the board. The smallest tool shown in the picture is the one that comes with it. It doesn't work well so I use my Cricut scoring tool or my old everyday bone folder. But the envelope tool is worth the price of the whole thing. It makes all sizes of envelopes. You know for a 5 or 6" card it's hard to get envelopes easily like it is for A2 or A10 cards. You can literally make any size in less than a minute. I'm very impressed. I have read where some folks think the envelopes are too big but it says right on the product that it makes "dimensional" envelopes. In other words, for cards with lots of embellishment that might be thicker than would fit in a standard envelope. If you want to make it smaller you just makes the measurements 1/8" smaller than what it says. I personally find the larger envelope very nice.

On to the card.............the DP is K&Co. and the yellow paper is Paper Company from Michaels. I embossed it with Tim Holtz texture fade and inked it a little. The cutouts are all Sizzix dies which I highlighted with various inks. The sentiment is Inkadinkadoo cut out with a Nestability long rectangle die. I'm really happy with how it turned out. And having a nice quality envelope to match is a big bonus in my book. Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

This is a card I CASED from a sweet friend across the ocean, Elly. Her blog, http://www.ellyscardcorner.blogspot.com/, is in Dutch and I wrote to tell her how I enjoyed her cards and wish I could read the text and she added a Google Translator to her blog so I could. What a sweetheart! She does the most gorgeous cards and I hope you will visit her for some yummy eye candy. I didn't have the same Nestabilities that she used (had to substitute for one of them) but I found her card inspiring and just had to make one. Thank you Elly!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

OK so I am fooling around with the new Tim Holtz texture fades and decided I wanted to use a cut from the new Cricut Lite Botanicals cartridge. I needed to change the blade because my cuts were starting to get rough edges. I'm trying to turn the screw to open the blade housing and it just doesn't want to budge. I remember I have a small piece of rubber which will help me get a good grip on the screw. I try that and the screw gives but breaks in half in the process!!! I call Cricut (the machine is only 7 months old) and after some deliberation with their technical department, I have to pack my machine up and send it back and they are sending me a whole new machine. BUT I WON"T HAVE MY BABY FOR AWHILE which is making me very sad.

Anyway, this is a roughly 6 x 8 card. Larger than normal but I bought this pack of really nice cards, very heavy cs at a yard sale, so now and then I use one. DP is Urban Prairie from Basic Grey and the rest is all SU. I used Very Vanilla for the Tim Holtz Notebook texture folder and distressed it with Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade. The sentiment is from ODB Scriptures 1 and I also used Nestabilites for the background shapes. I was ready to photograph and the poor card just needed something else. I tried several things and ended up with a Prima flower and MS punched leaves. I don't know if I like the flower but after the day I've had, it will do!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Believe it or not, today I have the whole day to play. Isn't that a wonderful gift. Kids will be home from the beach this afternoon and hubby is making dinner! Am I lucky or what! So I decided to try out Lauren Meader's other template for July, Wonderful Watering Can. For those of you who want to know, it's easier than the teapot. I used Bazzil Basics cardstock but I think SU might be okay too. I'll have to try one with heavier cs and see how it goes. I cheated and used a Mary Engelbreit sticker on the side because the saying was apropo. Ribbon is SU and the butterfly is an ME punch gussied up with some Stickles and a gem for the head. The scrap of paper on the top is Urban Prairie by Basic Grey. Now if we just had rain, I wouldn't need to water....................hmmm.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Hi everyone! Just popping in to say Happy Fourth. Enjoy your barbeques and parties and don't miss the local town parade and fireworks. Above all, stay safe and take a few minutes to think about our freedoms and our way of life here in America. We are so blessed!

Friday, July 2, 2010

You all know how much I admire Lauren Meader and here is another example of her creativity. She calls it the Flapper. It was all cut on my Cricut except for the labels on top which were the #10 Nestabilities. Flowers were several Primas layered together and brushed with Almost Amethyst. The cardstock is SU Night of Navy and Almost Amethyst. I think the DP is K&Co. It was just a scrap I had. The sentiment is from SU Oval All. This is a good size box and would hold candy, cards, homemade treats, bath products, a small gift of a scarf, jewelry, etc. All kinds of possibilities. Give the Flapper a try. It is one of two new templates for July from My Time Made Easy. Happy Fourth weekend!

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Mary Puskar

About Me

I have been married to my high school sweetheart for 49 years and have 3 grown children. I come from a family of women who could do everything and was taught the needle arts as a very young child (I could knit in first grade!). I love quilting, zentangle, dollmaking, gardening and am head over heels in love with papercrafting and rubber stamping. Love my grand-dogs. A happy day is a day creating.